Home > Trip Reports > January 20, 2018, Snoqualmie Pass

January 20, 2018, Snoqualmie Pass

1/20/18
WA Snoqualmie Pass
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Posted by silaswild on 1/20/18 9:09am
Fresh soft 8" fluff at 3000". 20" ski penetration 4800'-3400' in trees. Breezy and occasionally blown off to crust on east slopes above 4800'.
I needed a long lonely walk in the woods, and found what I was looking for.  I don't know for how long the quiet places will remain quiet, but if you're clever or lucky enough to stumble upon a quiet place, please consider that quiet places are valuable precisely because they're quiet.

Snow: Not sure I found as much as 20" ski-pen, but there was lots of fluff above the crust. Seemed like the morning's snow came in warmer than that which fell overnight, making things a little upside-down and producing thin storm-slab. At most (all?) elevations, there is a firm (pencil-hard) crust that lies beneath the new.  In the profile-photo (4k ~west-facing), you can see two prominent crusts.

In the trees, the snow is in the canopy. Even at 5k, the tree skiing was at or below average.

On the ski home, at 3pm, Snoqualmie yet again delivered exotic combinations of snow conditions -- snow, dry in appearance, that skied a little like glue, but poorly bonded to the crust, with little pinwheels running on top at around 3500'.

Avalanche: On steepest W slopes, all of the new snow was willing to run loose-dry on the crust. The bond between the new and the crust was better than I'd expect, but the contrasting hardness of fist over pencil remains a recipe for trouble with increased loading. Found some windslab along a ridge -- very soft for windslab.

There was plenty of debris, covered by at least the overnight snow, at the bottoms of paths where I've not seen debris. I've always surmised that they would run, but had never before seen the evidence.

Creeks: Creeks that are traditionally filled in, even well above 4k, are not. Watch for creek-holes in quite unexpected places.

Yep. Tree skiing sub par. Creekbeds not filled in below 4000'. Weather too warm. Thanks for the details I could not have expressed so clearly.

Thanks for that foto and snow conditions.
Out of White Pass on the 19th skied 4" of soft pow on top of a crust that was consolidating nicely to the subsurface snow which was consistent several feet down.  skied at 7000ft down to about 5000.  meadows between the trees were the best with their wind protection and the trees themselves were a bit harder to handle due to more crustiness.

Thanks for the details Charlie - useful.  Odd year so far - where is La Nina?

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january-20-2018-snoqualmie-pass
silaswild
2018-01-20 17:09:51